Hell, I wouldn't feel right about it myself. Damn, but life's gone and got complicated all of a sudden.
Chapter 6
Lou strode off toward his cabin, eager to show Spark the two ranches he was especially interested in. He wasn't quite sure from the sketchy map, but it looked like one of them was only a few miles away. When he realized the cowboy wasn't right behind him, he slowed and looked back. Spark ambled along, holding his left arm close to his body, and taking his time. He looked like he was a million miles away.
Lou paused. I'm moving too fast here, both walking and in plans. Is it stupid and dangerous to try to give reality to a dream?
Spark came up alongside him and gave him a grin. "Got to wool gatherin' there for a minute. Least that's what my grandma used to call it--forgetting where you was at and what you oughta be doin'. Sorry."
"Still pretty sore?"
"Somewhat, but it'll get better. Day or two, I'll be fine. Come on and show me those ranches."
They went into the cabin. When Lou brushed the touch pad on his laptop, the screen lit up. "Pull up the extra chair," he suggested, glancing back over his shoulder. "I'll have the first one on the screen in a minute."
"There's New York minutes," Spark quipped. "Are there Chicago minutes, too?" He grabbed the straight chair and dragged it close, sitting where he could look over Lou's shoulder.
Lou saw Spark wince when he started to lean back against the polished wooden spindles. Ready to ride. Yeah, right. His back has to hurt like hell. For a few breaths, he relived those horrible wonderful moments. He'd never been so scared, but then he'd never experienced such triumph, either.
"Okay, here's the first one. Six hundred acres on Willow Creek, running water most of the year and two good wells. Nice looking house, good barns, corrals and bunkhouse at the headquarters and a permit to run five hundred head on the Gila Forest. Ten horses, two tractors, a hay truck and a couple of older pickups go with the ranch. Take a look."
Spark leaned forward and scanned the listing, studied the photos and read the text. His eyes narrowed as he read parts of the information. Lou could almost see him thinking. Then he nodded.
"This one's just up the highway, past the road we came down last night about five miles. Nice place. I know the old couple who own it. She got real sick about a year ago, some kind of cancer, I think. He decided they were too far from the medical stuff she needs so they had to move to town. Their son didn't want any part of the ranch. He has a hotshot job in Las Cruces, some kind of accountant or something, so the place is up for sale. You could do worse. The price isn't bad to start, and you could likely horse trade them down a little. They need to unload it."
Lou couldn't tell what the Texan was thinking. He kept a poker face as he spoke, and his tone gave little away. That impassive mien disturbed him. "Let me show you the other one." He clicked a couple of times and brought it up.
This time Spark's response was clearer and less positive. "Overpriced and fancied up too much," he said. "I don't know much about this one. It's probably a good enough ranch, but the other's a real working ranch, been run by folks who knew the business. This one looks to me like a toy hobby ranch for some city guy to play with when the mood hits him. But then maybe that's what you want. You really aren't a cattle man or anything."
The assessment stung more than Lou cared to admit. True, he probably did seem like a candidate for a costly toy, a place where he could play out his dreams and fantasies of the old west. He'd imagined Spark there, too, sharing the game. Then he realized he might be taking way too much for granted, getting miles ahead of himself here. He drew in a slow breath and let it out before he spoke.
"Makes sense. I think I see what you mean. The first one's close, though. We could go look at it this afternoon. The other is on the far side of Silver City, down along the Mimbres River. Want to drive to the Rocking DB after lunch?"
Spark nodded. "Sure, why not?" He didn't sound real enthusiastic, though, or at least that's how Lou felt about the reply. Spark shifted in the chair, drew back from the desk and the computer. Something made the cowboy uncomfortable. Lou could see that with one eye.
"Maybe I'm getting stupid here to even think about buying a ranch. It's a new idea, one I hadn't really considered before, although I was looking at some investment possibilities like a couple of green energy outfits up around Albuquerque."
Spark half stood, spun the chair around and sat down again straddling it with his good arm rested on the back. He seemed to ponder for a moment, as if framing his response. "Depends on what you really want, how you plan for your life to go, I reckon. If you're fed up with Chicago and want to get away maybe from the weather or too much family or just the crowds and noise and pollution, then a ranch might serve a real purpose for you. Your choice of a real working ranch or a hobby type, I guess.
"But to me a ranch is almost alive, deserves to be taken care of and cared about like a good horse or dog. Not left alone under some paid foreman who doesn't really give a shit. You know what I'm saying?"
Spark looked up then and met Lou's gaze with a serious, earnest expression on his face. "Can you afford-- Do you want to take that kind of step, really get into it that way? 'Cause if you don't, I'd hate to see you do it."
A trace of flush swept over Spark's face, ruddy beneath his tan. He dragged his gaze away from Lou's and then looked back at him again. "I--I'm wondering if you're thinking of doing this on account of me, of us. It might be too soon. In six months, there could be somebody else, something different... "
Lou settled his hand on Spark's right shoulder. He had to touch the cowboy to punctuate what he was about to say.
"I've had infatuations before, plenty of them, starting back in my teens. Some were real strong, hot and urgent while they lasted, but this doesn't feel the same. After I left last fall, I kept telling myself all the reasons why it wouldn't work, why it was wrong, but the feelings wouldn't go away. Now I've finally reached the point where if my current life won't suit a cowboy, then I'll have to change it into one that will."
Spark bit his lip, looking up with a tangled mass of emotions in his blue eyes, somehow young and innocent eyes for all he was nearing thirty and had seen plenty in those years. "Just any cowboy or one certain one?"
"The other night, when that cat jumped on you, I felt like the other half of myself was threatened. Normally, I'd've been petrified, scared shitless, but damned if I could give you up without the best fight I could bring. That told me something. Nobody's life was ever that important to me before. Oh, sure, my kin was, but that's because it's what you're supposed to feel, not from the heart."
"I--I don't know what to say," Spark stammered. "I've never felt quite this way before either. I'm not sure what to think, how to act."
Lou's hand slid down Spark's arm until he could grasp the other man's hand. His tug left no doubt what he wanted. Spark stood, kicked the chair aside, and closed the distance between them. He met Lou's open-mouthed kiss with equal fervor, as they fenced with tongues and gave free rein to the hungry need racing through them both.
"I don't want to hurt you," Lou mumbled, his lips still locked with Spark's, "but I need you out of those clothes and bare naked with me right now."
"Yes... oh, hell, yes."
As carefully as he could, Lou freed the snaps down the front of Spark's shirt and drew the garment off. He jerked his own shirt off, ripping buttons, and threw it across the room. Chest to chest was enough, but they both knew that it wouldn't be for long. He felt Spark's nipples stiffen to pebbled peaks and the abrasion of the hair on both their bodies tangling as they moved, rubbing together.
Soon the pants had to go as well. With one hand, Spark tried to manage his belt and the buttons of his Levi's, but he was making slow work of it. Lou kicked off his jeans and athletic shoes and helped Spark. Finally, they tumbled onto the bed together. Lou made sure Spark went down on his right side.
"This time I'm taking care of you," he declared. "For now, you aren
't the wrangler and me the guest, or you the cowboy and me the dude. We're just two people who need each other like water and air. You've got the temporary handicap so I'm going to take charge."
Spark didn't argue. He didn't protest. When Lou lifted his head to look at the cowboy, he saw his grin and the sparkle in his eyes.
"Bring it on," Spark challenged. "I'll take whatever you choose to lay on me."
At least a key part of Spark's anatomy had clearly suffered no damage in the puma's attack. His cock stood well past half mast before Lou even touched it. After a final deep kiss, he got up to reverse his position so his head was even with Spark's crotch. That big, thick cock twitched, centimeters from his lips. He steadied it with one hand and slowly guided it into his mouth. Spark stayed on his side, but that was no impediment.
Lou could give a blowjob standing on his head if that was required. This one was easy. He savored the unique flavor of Texas and cowboy as he gradually built up the speed and intensity of his sucking. He steadied Spark's prick at the base with one hand, while he edged the other in between the cowboy's thighs until he cradled the other man's balls, rolling the pebbled skin over the oval stones. Then he slipped a finger in behind them to scratch along Spark's perineum, stopping just short of his ass.
By then Spark had begun to moan and buck his hips, clutching at the bedspread with his right hand. He reached to wrap it around the back of Lou's head. He came in a burst, shooting a gush of semen down Lou's throat. For several heartbeats neither of them spoke.
After a bit, Spark levered himself up on his good arm. "If you'll move so I can kneel on the floor in front of you, I can do you, too. I can see you're more than ready. Or I can lie on my stomach at the edge of the bed and you can fuck me. Turnabout is fair play, you know."
Lou thought a minute. "Okay, if you're bound and determined. BJ works for me." He rolled onto his feet, turned and then sat on the edge of the bed. Spark pushed himself off the bed on the opposite side and circled to settle to his knees in front of Lou.
Spark knew how to do it, no question about that. He had all the skill in his lips and tongue that he had in his hands and body when it came to handling a horse or doing the other tasks he performed regularly. It was all over too soon, but Lou reminded himself there would be other times. If he was lucky, many of them.
After the final spasms faded, Spark stood, swiped his tongue across his lips and grinned. "Okay, Mr. V., how was that? You ready to go have lunch and then look at a ranch?"
Lou waited, enjoying the sight of the sculpted lean body in front of him, the dancing mischief in the other man's eyes, the sass in his grin and, at least for now, the pride of possession.
"Sex is great and I couldn't live without it," he said, "but this thing between us is about a lot of things besides that, at least for me it is."
Spark's grin faded and his eyes took on a more serious expression. He nodded. "I think you're right. I'm still trying to figure it all out, but it's starting to feel awfully real, even permanent. Kinda spooks me, but in a good way. I'm just not used to thinking about brands and bills of sale and stuff like that. But if you're convinced you want to become a westerner, a rancher, I'll do all I can to help you."
"I don't want to take you away from your friends, the life you enjoy, even your place here with Jason. In time, I might want you to back off on the special favors for other guests, but only if you feel the same way. We can take it slow, step by step. I'm just asking you to trust what you feel and give this a chance."
Spark's spontaneous one-armed hug was awkward but no less sincere and no less stirring to Lou for that small fault. "If it's meant to be, it will. That was what my mamma always said and she's a pretty smart lady. At least for this go-round, I feel like I'm riding a winner."
When they headed for the dining hall a few minutes later, Lou slung an arm across Spark's shoulders, mindful of the cowboy's injuries, but feeling a need to keep the contact between them. In response, Spark put his right arm around Lou's waist.
Life didn't come with any guarantees and he knew it, but a man would be a fool not to gamble on something that offered such a reward. He had a hunch the odds were in his favor this time, so he'd play this hand for all it was worth.
Deirdre O'Dare
Deirdre O'Dare, who also writes milder (roughly PG-13 rated) romance as Gwynn Morgan, has loved reading and writing since early childhood. Writing came naturally to Deirdre/Gwynn, who scribed her first simple verse at age eight. An avid reader, she devoured hundreds of books while growing up and later as an adult. Somewhere along the way she found romance and then romance with more explicit and detailed love scenes. "Ah ha," said she, "I think I have found my niche!" In the last decade after leaving her "day job" as a civilian employee of the U. S. Army, she finally settled into romantic fiction writing as a second career. Deirdre has a growing number of shorts and novellas, all published by Amber Heat.
With Irish and Welsh ancestry on both sides of her family, Deirdre has always been enthralled by the history and customs of the Celtic peoples as they have come down to us. The Mother Goddess idea particularly resonates with her as well as the notion that physical expressions of love between consenting couples are both a divine gift and a sacred duty to honor the Mother. Deirdre admits her favorite heroes are cops, cowboys and Celts.
* * * *
Don't miss The Wild Bunch: Stace, by Deirdre O'Dare,
available at AmberAllure.com!
Stace, Spark, and Cass have been best buddies since their high school rodeo days. Now they work for an exclusive guest ranch in New Mexico that caters to gay men who need an escape from their high-stress, fast-lane lives. Rainbow Ranch has a reputation for providing the precise Wild West adventures each guest needs, and quenching their desires with the cowboys of the guest's hottest fantasies.
Jared Langford runs a cutting-edge media company and wishes he could put aside the burdens of management and be valued for himself and not his prestige. Persuaded to take a week-long vacation at Rainbow Ranch, he finds exactly the reprieve he needs and all the thrills he could hope for. The experiences he has with ranch employee Stace may just turn his whole life around and set him on a very different course.
Stace never intended to fall for a guest--and it's never happened before. So why now? What is so unique about the sexy Jared Langford that has Stace dreaming of a long-term relationship?
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Índice
THE WILD BUNCH: SPARK
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Deirdre O'Dare
Amber Quill Press, LLC
The Wild Bunch 2 Spark Page 5